The Aetherunners
by Ninjadude159
Summary: Darius has always wanted to be a Magic card designer, so he joined project Planeswalker intending to be part of wizards design team. What he got was much more than he bargained for, not only is he one of the few Planeswalkers on Earth, he has been recruited to wizards as an Aetherunner, Planeswalkers that bring back news from the magic universe. This is the story of one of them.
1. Chapter 1

Qualifications

I walked into a white room, not knowing what to expect. A table sat in the center with two chairs on opposite ends of it. A tall man stood near the back wall, his back facing towards me

"Have a seat," he began. "It says here your name is Darius Elric, and you've been an avid magic player for the past five years"

"That's right," I said as I slid out the chair and sat down. "Ever since I started playing, I've always wanted to design magic cards. It just seems like an amazing dream job!"

"Well that's why we started this program, to have young minds work alongside us, to have a fresh, new outlook on Magic. I'm Blake by the way," he said as he sat in the chair across from me.

"Hello Francis"

"Well enough chit-chat, let's begin the test."

"Wait a minute, the what? The website didn't mention a qualification test!"

"It wasn't supposed to. We didn't want people worrying about preparing for a test that you can't prepare for."

"What's the test?"

"You'll see," he said with a smile. He laid out three pictures in front of me and pointed to them from right to left. "Mikokoro, Naya, Nephalia. Imagine yourself at each of these places. First, Mikokoro"

I was very nervous and excited, yet I tried to calm down and visualize Mikokoro. If I remember correctly, he means Mikokoro, Center of the Sea; a card from the Kamigawa block. It produced colorless mana and tapped to draw everyone cards. I imagined I was standing on a rock, not too far off its coast, a light mist had set in, yet I could still see Mikokoro and all its grandeur rising above the mist. While in its presence I felt an indescribable feeling of wisdom, like I was learning great knowledge. Just then, a voice interrupted my thoughts.

"Good, now imagine Naya."

Naya was part of the rather recent block, Shards of Alara. Imagining Naya was more difficult, as Naya was a fifth of Alara. I finally settled on the edge of a cliff, watching the ever expanding forests of Naya. I basked in the light of its sun, heard the voices of nature, and felt an overwhelming exhilaration from its wild mana.

"You're almost done. Finally, Nephalia."

I had never heard of Nephalia before. Was it part of the upcoming set? Well it didn't matter now, so I studied the picture more carefully, a dark sky, a tainted landmass bordered by the sea with a few visible graves in the distance. I put myself at the edge of one of the cliffs, the raging sea below me. As I stared into the black ocean I felt as if I could see my fears and desires reflecting from the dark abyss. My mind felt heavy, but it felt different from earlier if felt as if the brain in my head weighed a ton, my sanity started to wither.

"Enough! The test is over, you pass," he said as he got up and walked to the door behind me.

"That's it? What was the test for?" I turned to him in confusion

"It tests to see if you're qualified, and also as a way to thin out the applications."

"Well it was actually pretty easy up until the end there," I said while getting up and following him out the door and into a hallway. "I can't imagine you thin out too many applications with this, so how many have actually passed?"

"Ten."

"Out of?"

"Ten."

"Oh ," I said with disappointment

"Thousand."

"Oh," I said nonchalantly. "Wait ten out of ten… Holy Crap! Only ten people passed?"

"You're number ten"

"How do you even go through that many, and what qualifies you to pass?"

"We have plenty of recruiters besides myself, as for your second question, you'll just have to wait and find out, Planeswalker."

"Planeswalker? What do you mean, Planeswalker?"

"You'll see," he said as he opened a door on the right and walked in.


	2. Chapter 2

Job Description

I followed him through the door, puzzled. What did he mean by Planeswalker? Could he really mean that I… no it couldn't be. He was probably referring to me being a Magic player, but the idea still lingered.

"Hey!" He called. "Over here."

I walked over to a large circular table garnished with the Planeswalker symbol in the middle. Nine chairs wrapped around the table, but only one was empty. I sat in the empty one next to an auburn haired girl and a dark haired guy with cyan highlights.

"Hello everyone, my name is Blake," he began. "You're all here because you passed the qualification test."

A guy from across the table spoke up, "I wouldn't exactly call it a test. All I really did was use a bit of my imagination. It doesn't seem like you tested for any sort of skill." This was met by a few murmurs and agreements.

"We weren't testing you on skill, Mr. Kallian. We were testing you on qualification." said a lady next to Blake. More quiet remarks rose from this statement.

A man beside her stood up and raised his hands, "Please, be silent, all will be explained." The talking subsided. "Each of you has been chosen because of your affinity to magic, because of your ability to feel and visualize mana. Magic isn't simply a card game, it is so much more than you can imagine, and you, my friends, are about to discover its true magnitude. You're Planeswalkers, all of you. Yes, just like Garruk and Liliana, just like Jace and Chandra, you have the ability to traverse the planes of the Blind Eternities."

"Alright," said a girl a couple seats to left of me. "Where are the cameras? What you're saying is absolutely ridiculous. Are you filming us? Trying to see our reaction to being told that we're beings of untold power? Is this some kind of initiation joke or something?"

A light aura arose from the lady next to Blake, and then she slammed her hands against the table. Suddenly a crack of lightning struck the center of the table followed by an explosive thunder clap. "Clara, this is not a joke. I understand your confusion and misinterpretation, but understand this, what you are being told is Wizards greatest and best kept secret. Before you join us we need you to completely respect and accept this truth; all employees at Wizards of the Coast are actual wizards."

We all sat there, shocked. I finally found the courage to utter a single word, "Okay." Others around me nodded in agreement.

"Alright, now that we have that we have that out of the way; I don't believe we've introduced ourselves yet. I'm Josh. She's Tanya. That's Blake," he motioned to both as he said their names. "While we're on the subject of closely guarded secrets, there are some things you need to know before we put you to work. There's a misconception, albeit of our own doing, that we design and develop cards for the Magic game, that's a lie. We actually research and discover most of the cards we use. That spell that Tanya used, that was Lightning Bolt."

"Alright if we're not here to help design cards then what will our jobs be?" asked a girl across the table.

"You'll be separated into two groups, those who want to research and adapt spells into cards and those who want to explore the planes of the Aether and bring back research materials," said Blake.

"And before all of you jump at the chance to travel the Blind Eternities," added Josh. "We have to let you know before you take on the job that you have to sign a disclaimer. The different planes of the Aether can be incredibly dangerous. If you're a researcher, you'll still be allowed, and at certain times forced, to traverse the Aether, we won't deny you your right as a Planeswalker, but in general you'll come after any initial conflict, when the plane is at a relative peace. The explorers, however, will be like scouts, sent to decide whether a plane is safe enough in its current state and also to record events that are currently transpiring on the plane itself, like a reporter."

"One last thing," said Tanya. "If any of you don't think you're up to the challenge, and be honest with yourselves, leave now, there is no shame in self preservation."

"And with that, we'll let you get to know each other while we get the forms," said Josh as he got up and, along with Tanya and Blake, walked out the door.


End file.
